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MORLAND — On Veterans Day, Nov. 11, Morland celebrated their new Veterans Memorial.
The Morland Community Foundation has been working for over three years on this project, and it started with acquiring a bronze statue of a World War II Army air corpsman by artist Sondra Jonson. Displaying the statue at several local events helped sell bricks, engraved with a veteran’s name, rank, branch and years served.
The City of Morland gave them the okay to start working in the city park 28 days before the Veterans Day ceremony. Every day the memorial took on a different look. Excitement was in the air.
Finally, Veterans Day was here and at 2:00 p.m., the program started with President Lucas Goddard, welcoming the crowd and briefly talked about the Morland Community Foundation.
He introduced Pastor Julie Truhlar of the Morland United Methodist Church, giving the invocation. He asked the American Legion Honor Guard of Jennings and Selden to present the colors. A very emotional national anthem was sung by Brenlynn Rath of Selden.
Lucas Goddard introduced the board members of the Morland Community Foundation and gave a background of its commitment to the local community. He then introduced the bronze statue artist Sondra Jonson. She gave a background of the work that goes into constructing a bronze statue.
Mike Frakes, a board member of the foundation and leader of this project, introduced Colonel Dallas McMullen, the program speaker. Colonel McMullen is a colonel in the United States Army and the Kansas Army National Guard, and is the commander of the 69th Brigade, headquartered in Topeka.
The Millbrook Lodge #281 Masons of Hill City, along with Cole Presley, past Grand Master of Masons, assisted by Derik Hockett, current Grand Master of Masons in Kansas, dedicated the memorial.
Frakes asked all veterans to stand up and then introduced a very moving song by Lee Greenwood, ‘God Bless the USA.’ While the song was playing, veterans shared handshakes with other veterans.
Frakes presented the Morland Veteran’s Memorial to the inspiration and diligent worker on the project to Vietnam veteran and Purple Heart recipient, Ray Toll. The sign at the entrance of the memorial was unveiled and displays “Ray Toll Veterans Memorial.”
Frakes asked the American Legion Honor Guard to retire the colors. He then thanked everyone for attending and offered refreshments.